The Admiral's Promotion
by Zeng Li
Summary: Admiral Alfonso creates a scenario to win favor in the eyes of the Empire, at Enrique's expense.


****

The Admiral's Promotion  
By: Zeng Li - email: tseng588@earthlink.net

"If it'll keep you from whining, _and_ get you out of my hair, then go! Fine! Get out of here!"

"Thank you, mother," young Enrique bowed to his mother, Empress Teodora. He straightened his back and turned around, pacing past the royal guards on his way out of the throne room in the palace.

Back then, he dressed in a white tailcoat with raised collar and wide sleeve cuffs, both accented with color and metallic stitching. A blue cummerbund circled above his waist, and he wore a pale violet cravat topped with a jeweled broach.

The 14 year old prince spent his days relatively confined to the palace. Servants waited on him hand and foot. Everything from waking him up in the morning to helping him dress, and they promptly brought him any type of food he desired upon his request. For a maturing boy, the setting got mundane. The armada was always busy, the soldiers and palace guards served loyally, but what did a teenage prince have to do all day?

In recent months, Enrique had toured many parts of town in upper Valua, representing the empire in public appearances for the wealthy subjects that flaunted themselves as if they, too, were royaly. Even at his young age, it tore Enrique's heart as he was surrounded by such affluence while casting his eyes down from the high reaches of the city to the slums. He turned his eyes away from the slums, only to gaze back upon the filth of wealth that surrounded him.

He retreated back to the palace for weeks after, but still hadn't found much to do aside from things the empress assigned him to. None satisfied his cabin fever.

Fourth Admiral at the time, Alfonso, had come in to see the empress per her request. Enrique had been there at the time, standing behind and to the side of his mother.

Alfonso knelt before the throne and bowed his head. The empress spoke.

"Admiral, I need you to sail an escort ship along with two Valuan supply ships to Nasrad."

Alfonso looked up. "An escort, Your Highness? For mere_ merchants_?"

"Silence! Those are your orders. Pirates attack Valuan merchants as much as they do other nations' ships. Besides, I'm running a little personal mission as well. There is cargo coming from a contact in Nasrad that would not be good in enemy hands. I want it smuggled out of there on one of the merchant ships. Their crew will just think it's miscellaneous cargo being brought to the palace along with spices, linens, and what-not."

Alfonso stood up to his full height. "But, Empress, if the cargo is on a ship other than mine, how will we be sure it is safe? Even if we posted guards on the merchant ship…?"

"We're not posting guards. If the merchant sailors know we're protecting something, they'll know right away that there's precious cargo on board. Besides, it'll be in a crate marked 'rutabagas', so even if pirates did raid the vessel, they wouldn't likely take our crate."

"Some people_ happen_ to like rutabagas, Your Highness."

"Yes, Alfonso. You are a weird one."

Alfonso stiffened his posture and changed the topic. "Very well, Your Highness. I will prepare my ship at once." With a parting bow, he left the throne room.

That's when Enrique moved from his spot behind the empress and asked if he could go along with Admiral Alfonso, just to get out and do something different for a while.

"If it'll keep you from whining, _and_ get you out of my hair, then go! Fine! Get out of here!"

And so, that's when Enrique left the palace and met up with the admiral at the imperial harbor.

= = = =

"So…?" Alfonso thumped Enrique in the back so hard, the prince stumbled forward one step. "How do you like sailing?"

Enrique's eyes narrowed. If he was going to throw up now, he'd at least aim for the admiral's white attire. "It's……"

Alfonso put his hands on his hips and laughed, his head cocked back to one side, his pride and arrogance not hidden from sight. "It's gonna take someone like you some time to get used to. Your green face does not match your outfit, you know." He girlishly flicked his blond hair back.

"Maybe I was suffering more from cabin fever than anything else. I just wanted to get out, and about the only way to do it is by air ship."

"Ha, ha, ha…. Our prince is _bored_? Well, don't you worry any. I'll make sure you have an exciting adventure so that none of this is in vain." Alfonso walked away, still laughing. Enrique didn't like the sound of it.

= = = =

Nasrad, once a far off point in the distance, was now almost all the way up to their bow. The merchant ships they were escorting docked while the Valuan armada ship remained hovering behind them. Enrique and Alfonso took a small craft from their ship to the edge of the floating land mass. Enrique had held up quite well during the entire flight despite Alfonso's playful attempts to make him give back his lunch.

The admiral hopped out of the landing craft with ease, but Enrique gingerly lowered himself to the ground so not to jar the delicate balance between his stomach and its contents.

Alfonso stuck his nose up, and the breeze blew the long ends of his outfit, creating quite a portrait for any love-struck woman who happened to be looking. Enrique, on the other hand, had his shoulders slouched, his knees slightly bent, and his right hand protectively covering his belly.

Alfonso looked at him and cocked an eyebrow at the prince's less than flattering appearance. "Come on! We've gotta find the crate marked 'rutabagas'." The admiral whapped his palm against the middle of Enrique's back, and the prince reflexively clutched at his queasy stomach. Alfonso scowled at him. "Or you can just stand here looking pathetic if that's all you can do to keep from hurling all over the pier."

Enrique gritted his teeth and squinted one eye. "N-No… I'll come with you." He tried to walk straight, but the swaying sensation in his body wouldn't stop. One step and he nearly fell over had Alfonso not grabbed him by the arm.

"Just stay here. I'll go be sure the er… rutabagas are loaded on then I'll come back for you." Alfonso walked off and Enrique just collapsed against a cylindrical post sticking up from the pier.

Perhaps the stuffy confines of the palace back home were better after all.

He wasn't sure if he'd fallen asleep or not, but the next thing he knew, someone was approaching him. The prince looked up and into the smirking face of Alfonso. "We're almost ready to take off. I've located the Empress' crate and we're gonna load it into one of the merchant ships. If you want, you can ride back with them. The, er…captain says that his ship rides really smooth, and you may feel much better riding with them instead. Those old clunky armada ships…tsk, tsk, tsk…"

Enrique stood up, his stomach having recovered. He stood on his toes to be eye level with the admiral. "_Anything_, just to get away from you!"

Alfonso flicked his hair back. "Ha, ha, ha… Come along, Your Highness. I'll take you there."

The admiral ushered him onto the merchant ship and directed him to the place in the cargo hold where the rutabaga crate sat all by itself.

Enrique looked around. "The Empress' crate is the only one here," he said.

"Shh…. Not so loud. I figured that we should isolate it this way if pirates raid, I mean…if by remote chance pirates get past my ship's defenses and board this ship, they'll go to the cargo hold with the _many_ boxes in them and leave this one totally alone."

Enrique only partially saw the logic and still thought the admiral was full of himself.

"And remember, this is a _very_ smooth sailing ship. So you'll be perfectly fine." Alfonso walked away and didn't start his trademark snickering until he was well out of Enrique's hearing range.

Enrique sat on the floor, gently rubbing his belly to be sure it was ready for another round of sailing. He determined that he was feeling quite fine, that is until he looked over and saw the big black letters stamped on the side of the crate that read "Rutabagas". Then all of a sudden, he didn't feel so well.

He waited in silence. There must not be a large crew on this ship, he thought to himself. How could the merchants defend from pirate attacks with so few hands on deck of their own.

Time went by, and sure enough, Alfonso must've been right about how smooth the merchant ship could sail. The prince hardly perceived any motion at all. He thought about leaving the musty cargo hold, but was afraid watching the whisps of clouds blow by might be enough to trigger off the somersaults in his stomach again.

More time passed, and he could hear voices approaching down the corridor outside the small cargo bay. Instinctually, Enrique reached for his short sword, recalling the words Alfonso told him of pirates. It was probably just the ship's crew, but the prince was feeling a little edgy.

The wooden door slid aside, and the two people entering stopped dead in their tracks. Enrique regarded them and let go of his sheathed sword. They were definitely not air pirates.

"Who are you?" asked the male.

Enrique stood up and straightened his attire. "I am Prince Enrique of Valua. Did Alfonso not tell you that I would be riding back on your ship?"

The man and woman blinked at each other. "Riding back?" asked the guy. "To where?"

"To Valua, of course." Enrique took a step back. "This ship _is_ going back to Valua, right?"

There was a stall of silence, and the woman giggled. The man, who was Don in his younger days, shook his head. "No way! We're headed for the archipeligo of Zamora, and at that, not for 3 more days. And why are you on my ship anyway, uh…Your Highness."

The respect was forced as clearly the guy wasn't all that familiar with who was standing before him. "How can this be? Alfonso escorted me and our, uh, cargo here himself! He couldn't have made a mistake."

"I'm afraid so," said the woman.

"What's this cargo of yours?" asked Don. "That? Rutabagas?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Rutabagas. That's all." By now, the prince felt like he had been set up in one of Alfonso's practical jokes. But would the Fourth Admiral of the Valuan Armada really play such jokes with the Empress' oh-so precious cargo, so carefully disguised in a vegetable carton? It had to be a set-up.

"Hey. You must've been with that Valuan ship that was escorting the other two merchant ships," said the ship's captain. "They departed almost an hour ago."

The lady sighed. "Our ship's not fast, but given who you are, Your Highness, I'd be willing to sail you back to them if it would serve to avoid trouble."

"I'm afraid it would only put you into more trouble. Please. Let's just take these vegetables and go back to the harbor." The prince didn't want to disclose to total civilian strangers the shady activities that Alfonso would be likely to engage in. "I'm sure when they realize their mistake, they'll come back for me."

"All right," said Don. "I'll help you with that."

Enrique stifled a protest as he saw the burly man handle the sizable wooden crate. He kept his mouth shut, though, as he didn't want to accidentally raise suspicion as to the real contents of the box. Not that Enrique himself even knew what the item concealed inside actually was either.

Before the crate was moved out of the cargo room, the floor rocked violently under their feet. The man slammed the box down on the deck.

"What the--?" he said.

"We were fired upon!" said the lady. "Quick, prince! This way!"

"Uh…" Enrique looked behind him at the lone crate, but decided it was best to follow the ship's crew instead.

Back on board his ship, the _Aldora_, Alfonso snickered. The forward cannons were still smoking from having discharged a warning shot at the docked vessel sitting outside of Nasrad.

"I'll be a hero for saving the Empress's dear little boy," he giggled in front of his crew, knowing that none of them would open their mouths with suspicions. "Fire! But be careful not to destroy the vessel just yet."

The forward cannons fired again, hitting the parked merchant ship with a glancing blow.

"That's it!" cheered Alfonso. "We'll teach them a lesson as soon as we've gotten the prince back safely on board!"

The fleeing trio were thrown into the bulkhead as the second shot rocked the boat.

"I didn't think air pirates attacked harbored vessels," said Enrique.

Captain Don was the first one out on deck. He looked up. "It's not air pirates! It's the armada!"

"What!?" Enrique pushed ahead and ran out on to the open deck. "Alfonso, you moron!" he waved his hands in the air.

"Ah, look," Alfonso said to his ship's crew. "It's Enrique waving for help. Stay here. I'll go down and rescue him."

"But, sir…" said the navigator.

"Don't question me!" the admiral clanged his sabre into the soldier's helmet. "Bring the ship in close to theirs. They can't run. I will save our prince!"

The shadow of the _Aldora_ stretched over the three on the deck of the merchant ship. A rope lowered with Alfonso hanging on to the end of it. Apparently now believing his own fabricated events, the admiral started playing the hero. Though for an amusing moment, his grip on the coarse rope loosened, and he began to slip. He let go before the rope burn ate through his glove, and his body plummeted the rest of the way down to the deck of the small trading vessel.

Everyone squinted their eyes as the admiral thudded to the deck in what must've been a rather painful fall. Alfonso got to his feet, staggered one step and drew his sabre, pointing it at the crew. "Unhand the Prince of Valua at once!" he proclaimed.

Enrique stepped forward and the other two behind him made not a move. "Alfonso, you set me up to this and you know it."

"No, I didn't! I swear!" Alfonso defended. "These deceitful people pulled their ship up to the harbor claiming to be a merchant ship we were escorting, and the Nasrad dock workers loaded _their_ ship up with _our_ cargo!"

"That's not so!" claimed Don.

Enrique stood in front of them because he knew Alfonso wouldn't dare lay a weapon on the Empress' son. "Step aside, admiral, and that's an order!"

Alfonso lowered his weapon, daring not to push the game much farther. He let Enrique past him so he could get to the rope that would raise him up to the _Aldora_. The Fourth Admiral kept his weapon drawn and waited for Enrique to be safely hoisted up to the deck.

"No hard feelings," said Alfonso to the duo who owned the ship he was on. "I'll just go back and pretend this misunderstanding never happened." He looked up and could see the face of Prince Enrique looking down at him, so he didn't dare prolong his visit. The rope was dropped behind him.

Enrique leaned back against the railing waiting for Alfonso to return to the _Aldora_. He noticed the admiral's pant leg was torn open at one knee and the skin underneath was red with blood.

"Excellent," said Alfonso in reaction to the minor injury he'd sustained in his previous fall to the deck. "This way the Empress can see how hard I'd fought to wrestle you out of the clutches of those potential kidnappers."

Enrique thought he was gonna be ill, and this time it wouldn't be the air sickness.

As Alfonso walked past him, Enrique dropped a little reminder. "Um, isn't the special cargo still on board the merchant ship below?"

"Ha, ha! No way! That was just an ordinary box of rutabagas. The _real_ special cargo is onboard _this_ ship. I know because I already opened it up to see what the Empress wanted smuggled into Valua."

Enrique's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, well I see you returned here without the ships you were supposed to be escorting."

"How mad can Her Highness be? After all, I abandoned my escort duties to save you, didn't I? I'm sure she'll understand."

Enrique let him walk off.

The faster armada ship caught back up to the two merchant vessels that it had left to fend for themselves while he was out on his personal mission. They sailed quietly back to Valua.

But along the way, Alfonso decided to open the special cargo box for real to see what was inside. He was alone with the carton labeled 'rutabagas' and with a crow-bar, he pried open the top. Inside were ordinary, ripe rutabagas. Surely they were just added protection to guard the real item of value inside.

Alfonso began pulling the vegetables out by the handfuls and tossing them onto the floor, determined to dig out the special goods just to see what had been so important to the Empress. Soon, he reached the bottom of the box, and all he'd turned up with were ordinary rutabagas. His heart skipped a beat.

He began sifting through the vegetables strewn all over the floor to see if perhaps one was a fake that might split open to reveal a treasure inside. They all seemed quite ordinary, and his search was taking up precious time.

The admiral ran out of the room and back up to the bridge to convey the order to turn the ship around.

"Sir," said the Vice Captain. "We've arrived at Valua. What could you possibly want to turn back for?"

Alfonso drew in a gasping breath. The Empress herself was waiting for them at the dock.

"Oh, no! This can't be happening! What do I do…what do I do…!?"

"Sir…?"

"Oh, never mind! Oh…," he beat his fists into the sides of his head, his devious little mind trying to fabricate a new excuse on the spot.

But the Empress was waiting for him. Sweat on his brow, Alfonso stepped off the ship and bowed before Teodora. "Your Highness, I return…"

"Do you have my special cargo?"

"Uh, I uh…"

The Empress just laughed at him. "Ha, ha, ha… There was no special cargo, Alfonso! I just said there was to get you to agree to go on the assignment. All you should have is a crate full of ordinary rutabagas, all of which you can throw out for all I care as _no one_ likes rutabagas…uh, except for you of course."

"Of course, ha, ha, ha…" Alfonso played along, nervously wringing his hands together. He saw Enrique casually walk past him. "Oh, uh…Your Highness!" Alfonso bowed before her once again. "Let me tell you what happened while we were there and how I heroically saved Enrique from potential kidnappers."

"Oh, do tell," her eyes lit up.

Out of her sight, Enrique just shook his head ruefully. Alfonso went on about how he leapt on board the other vessel and fought the crew tooth and nail, even though he was out-numbered, in order to save not only Prince Enrique, but also the box of rutabagas (which would also explain why they were going to turn up on his ship instead of one of the merchant vessels like they should've been.)

"One of 'em nicked me good," said Alfonso, indicating his wound, which was actually a result of his own klutziness, as he and the Empress walked along. "But I didn't let a little thing like this stop me. No…I fought them 'til I was the only one standing. I mean, until the prince and I were the only ones standing, you know…"

Enrique lagged behind, far enough away not to draw attention to himself, but close enough to listen to the fabricated tale of false heroics that Admiral Alfonso was feeding the Empress.

Alfonso would later be promoted to Third Admiral of the Valuan Armada for his rescue of the prince, and even though it sickened him, Enrique let it slide. Someday his mother would realize for sure just how big of a lying goof ball Alfonso was and he'd be dealt with then.

****

THE END

Writer's note **UPDATE**: I finally won Skies of Arcadia on Memorial Day 2003. I love the game, it was worth buying the Dreamcast just to have it. I love Enrique so much, I HAD to write a little story about my handsome prince!

© 2001, written by Zeng Li. Characters used in this story are used without permission from Overworks, Sega, or any of the creators of "Skies of Arcadia." Email: tseng588@earthlink.net


End file.
